As Ray Ferraro likes to say - "you can have all kinds of plentiful great forwards but if you don't have the defensemen to get them the pucks what good are all these great forwards?"

The Canucks are not deep enough talented enough to trade Edler and not replace him. People need to stop thinking of him as nick lidstrom jr and just accept him as a good top 4 defenseman which are not exactly growing on trees these days

Also, stop moaning about his pay cause I don't see a lot of you moaning about Ballards and Booths pay who are far worse less valuable to this team than Edler

"I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. Are you listening? - Plastics." - The Graduate

I don't think Edler is over paid at 5 million per based upon what other D men are getting and will get. He has a good cap and salary for sure. I also agree we don't have the bodies in the system to replace him and with trying to let Tanev continue to develop and perhaps Corrado we do need his experience.

Again the only way I trade Edler is if it is that proverbial home run. A top six, a third line centre and a good draft pick and or prospect. Short of that all we would be accomplishing would be to fill one hole up front and creating a larger one in the back end.

We all know the problem on the back end is that for some reason our lefties can't play as righties. Well, Garrison looked like he was going to be OK doing that. But if both Tanev and Corrado stick that problem is solved. Then its just a matter of the correct pairings.

As others have said, Edler's contract - given his age and production - is pretty damn good. He definitely can earn it. He brings a lot of valuable tools to the table.

This is exactly why he is Gillis' best trade asset!

Will we miss what he provides the team? Yes, to a decent extent. Having said that, he's not irreplaceable and the defence will not fall apart if he goes.

If Gillis doesn't want to trade him, I can understand that but I would like to know what 'bold moves' he has planned that wouldn't involve Edler. If he can get a true scoring 2nd liner and a 3rd line centre while keeping Edler and not poking more holes in the forward core or giving away what he has left on the farm or in picks, then he is a true magician.

I'm not trying to push the guy out the door, and I would hope Gillis only pulls the trigger on an Edler deal if he plugs those glaring holes in a credible fashion in the deal. Having said that, I'd love to hear any alternative viable 'bold moves' that wouldn't kill the team's depth elsewhere. Trading Edler makes the most sense to start to meaningfully change the character of this team, unless Gillis has some deals in the pipes that no one has cooked up yet.

At this stage in his career, Edler is only as good as the D partner he has beside him. Unfortunately, Gillis has failed to find a suitable match for Edler, the teams best d-man, since the departure of Ehrhoff.

Edler is the total package on the blueline. He hasn't reached his potential yet, but I question whether he can/will with this current group. He needs a stabilizing right handed partner who will allow him to really flourish.

Perhaps a new coach/system will allow Edler to be the guy he was two years ago. Perhaps it's time for him to move onto the next chapter of his career. There is, however, little doubt he is the best asset this club has on the blueline, and one who would generate a great deal of interest in the coming weeks. A player of his calibre does not go on the market often, and he is the type of upper echelon defender you can build a blueline around.

If Gillis can land a top four pp-qb in the Luongo deal, I think dealing Edler would land a significant piece to fill the void in the top six.

It's a calculated risk, it's like asking what if Hank or Kesler gets injured, well we're fucked and the seemingly more and more used quote (I'll be happy if we come out of this .500, during such and such absence) but if everyone is healthy, boom we go on a tear.

So if we do swap Edler for someone like Ryan.

We have Luongo for sure, plus Booth, Ballard and maybe Burrows to possibly trade if need be for a 3rd line center and a #4 RIGHT side dman.

I'd rather keep Hansen, but he probably has high value due to his feisty, relentless, speedy forechecking and affordable contract, but he can bring something decent back as well.

So there are many options to help ease the loss of trading Edler for our #1 need in star power - scoring depth.

Tanev has struggled? I didn't watch much hockey this year but I know at the end of last year he played with Dan Hamhuis against the other team's top players and was on for zero goals against over eight games or so, which is pretty darn good even if he is a bit of an offensive black hole at this point. Looking at the numbers for this year Tanev did well from a Corsi perspective and was among the lowest GA/60 for Canucks defensemen ..

He may never match up well against big forwards but as long as he continues to play a smart positional game he's got the reach and the skill to remain a factor - and being paired with a bigger, stronger parter like Jason Garrison or Edler would help.

Putting Tanev and Garrison together could make a great defensive pairing, Hamhuis can continue to babysit Bieksa and the third pairing (assuming no Edler blockbuster) could be Edler and Corrado.. shelter them from touch matchups and don't make Corrado think about much other than covering his responsibilities in his own zone and they could do well benefitting from mismatches like Christian Ehrhoff's pairing used to.

We do have some indications from Gillis that the Canucks are going to let their younger players make some mistakes early on in the NHL in the hopes that they improve through the season, so we might well end up seeing something like this. (Although obviously with a new coach coming, who knows whats in store.)

For the most part, I like Tanev's game, but there were times late in the season, against the big, top lines where he wore down & lost confidence. Playoff hockey requires the ability to stand up to this.

Otherwise, his positioning & composure tends to be good (after getting over a rough start last season). There were times when watching Tanev provided pure comedy. Not his play, but the expression on his face when playing with Ballard, & Ballard drifted out of position.